Testimony Reveals Twisted Timeline Behind Brutal ‘Rose Petal Murder’

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After a full day of chilling testimony – including the display of gruesome photos from one of South Carolina’s most graphic, ritualistic crime scenes – prosecutors in the ‘Rose Petal Murder’ trial began putting together a timeline of the day they say 32-year-old concert pianist Zachary David Hughes murdered 41-year-old veterinary tech Christina Parcell.

Hughes stands accused of stabbing Parcell more than thirty times in the head and neck area on the morning of October 13, 2021 at a Greer, S.C. home she shared with her young daughter and sister, Lutina Parcell. Hughes was arrested and charged with this brutal murder despite having no known connection to the victim at the time of her death.

After numerous delays in these proceedings, Hughes is finally standing trial in Greenville, S.C. – although as previously noted these high-profile proceedings have the potential to devolve into chaos at any moment given the myriad complexities of this convoluted tale.

And especially in light of the razor’s edge prosecutors are having to walk in the hopes of keeping one component of that tale out of the minds of jurors…

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THE MAILINGS

During the first part of testimony on Thursday (February 13, 2025) prosecutors focused on mailings sent during the summer of 2021 just prior to Parcell’s murder. Investigator Dan Bevill from Greenville County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) was the first witness called to the stand. Bevill led the investigation into the allegations lobbed between Parcell and music producer John Mello, her ex-boyfriend and father of her young daughter, prior to the murder. This included the investigation into the mailings containing nude photos of Parcell which Mello and Hughes are accused of conspiring to send in the months before her murder.

Mello and Hughes were allegedly harassing Parcell as part of a contentious custody dispute involving the young girl.

During a direct examination of Bevill conducted by S.C. thirteenth circuit solicitor Walt Wilkins, the jury was shown the explicit materials contained within the suspicious envelope. The jury viewed the alleged escort site advertisements sent to multiple individuals and addresses tied to Parcell and her fiancée, Bradly Post.

During his testimony, Bevill told the jury when he compared the various advertisements within the envelopes he noted that while the wording was the same between them, the font type and size and alignment of the words were varied. The website listed on the advertisements in the mailings was an escort site that Bevill said no longer existed. When Bevill typed the address into his web browser, it redirected him to another escort site.

Bevill also told the jury the advertisements identified the woman in the photos as “Caroline Warren.” The only thing identifying the woman as Parcell was the note contained with the materials.

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After Bevill left the stand, U.S. Post Office inspector Michael Nicholson was called to testify as to where the mailings originated. Nicholson was brought into the investigation at Bevill’s request to determine if there might be a possibility for federal charges related to the mailings. According to Nicholson, when he reviewed the envelopes provided by GCSO investigators, they were postmarked in Greenville, S.C. and Knoxville, Tennessee.

GCSO master deputy Blake Wolfe was then recalled to the stand to testify about his involvement in the harassment investigation tied to the mailings sent the summer before Parcell’s death. Wolfe testified during the investigation into the murder of Parcell, he was tasked with obtaining a search warrant for both Mello and Hughes’ Gmail accounts. Among the emails investigators were able to obtain between Hughes and Mello were messages discussing Christina Parcell which referred to her as “Sweet Caroline Warren,” the same name utilized in the mailings sent prior to the murders.

Among the hundreds of emails Wolfe said were exchanged between Mello and Hughes, an email sent on May 16, 2021 caught his attention…

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Wolfe told the court the email Mello sent to Hughes appeared to be a forward of an email from an account with a proton mail email address. This account appeared to be linked to a private investigative company called ‘Mullen Investigations.’ The email contained an attachment of the exact same escort advertisement that was sent in the envelopes intended to harass Parcell prior to her death.

Wolfe testified that as part of his investigation, he attempted to locate a private eye in South Carolina with the name Mullen, but was unsuccessful – as were his attempts to obtain information about the proton mail account from which the message was sent.

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THE CELLULAR FORENSICS…

After the jury heard testimony related to the mailings Mello and Hughes allegedly conspired to send, they turned their focus to cellular forensics to show the jury the timeline of the day Parcell was brutally murdered. GCSO digital forensic investigator Charles Cunningham took the stand to testify about cellular extractions he conducted on the phones and internet accounts of Hughes, Mello and Parcell following the homicide.

Cunningham testified the vast majority of messages obtained from Hughes’ device came from Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. When asked how many messages he was able to extract between Mello and Hughes from October 20, 2020 and October 7, 2021, Cunningham testified, “I believe it was maybe an excess of a thousand. It was a great deal.”

When defense attorney Andrew Moorman began cross-examining Cunningham, the courtroom came to attention when he asked the investigator about a cell phone extraction the prosecution didn’t reference… the extraction completed on the phone of Bradly Post.

Both prosecutors shifted to the edge of their seats preparing to object with each question Moorman asked of Cunningham as it became clear the defense attorney was seeking a way to let the jury know about the child pornographic materials found on Post’s device which were previously ruled inadmissible by S.C. circuit court judge Patrick C. Fant III  on Tuesday (February 12, 2025).

Moorman proceeded with his questioning asking Cunningham if the extraction of Post’s phone occurred after Parcell’s murder to which the investigator replied, “yes, sir.”

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The objection from prosecutors finally came when Moorman asked Cunningham if he had contacted a member of the GCSO. Judge Fant overruled the objection with a warning to Moorman to proceed cautiously in his questioning. From there, Moorman began to take his time between questions as he walked a thin line of informing the jurors there were things they didn’t know about the extraction of Post’s phone — without violating the judge’s order.

Moorman then asked Cunningham if GCSO investigator Wayne Arnett was contacted after the extraction of Post’s phone was complete. Cunningham replied he did not contact Arnett, but was aware other investigators did and that the contents of Post’s phone were provided to them.

Special agent Matthew Wilde with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) was called to the stand to testify about his analysis of the cellular location data obtained from the phone of Zachary Hughes.

After Wilde explained the basics of cellular location analysis, he highlighted some key findings for the jury. Among other things, he revealed that between July 4 and July 8, 2021 Hughes’ cell phone was using cell towers in and around Knoxville, Tennessee — which was roughly the same time someone sent with nude photos of Parcell with Knoxville postmarks.

On cross-examination, Moorman asked Wilde if Bradly Post’s phone was among the cellular extractions he was asked to do. Wilde replied he had not been asked to obtain data from Post’s phone.

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CONSTRUCTING THE TIMELINE…

GCSO investigator Jared Sparkman – who served as the lead investigator for the investigation into Parcell’s homicide – was the next officer called to testify. Sparkman told the court the first time he heard the name of Zachary Hughes was on October 22, 2021 after interviewing Michael Manigault.

While speaking to Manigault, GCSO master deputy Blake Wolfe did research on Hughes which led investigators to the Flock camera footage of Hughes’ truck. Sparkman told the jury the footage captured of his truck on October 13, 2021 was the only footage obtained from the Flock camera database in which a bike was seen in the back of Hughes’ truck.

After running the CellBrite report on Hughes’ phone, they were able to obtain messages from WhatsApp. Sparkman said that when the messages were recovered they were in a scrambled state. Sparkman said this is because the app was deleted from the phone. When WhatsApp is served a search warrant, the only information they receive is the user information because the messages were encrypted.

There were hundreds and hundreds of messages in WhatsApp. The words weren’t coherent and required investigators to analyze them. The jury was shown the messages recovered including the messages sent shortly after Parcell’s murder.

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As the messages had been scrambled, investigators had to unscramble the words to try to determine what they said. Sparkman testified they believed the message sent from Mello to Hughes on October 13, 2021 at 2:52 p.m. originally read, “How did that music research go?”

Sparkman said he believes Hughes response to Mello sent a minute later read, “Good. I’ll tell you over the phone.”

After the WhatsApp messages were shown to the jurors, Sparkman began presenting the jurors a timeline of the events surround Parcell’s murder.

Towards the conclusion of his direct examination of Sparkman, Wilkins asked the investigator a haunting question.

“What was the one clear way John Mello could be assured that he would get custody of his daughter?” he asked.

“By making sure that Christina Parcell was dead,” Sparkman responded.

On Friday morning (February 14, 2025), the defense will conduct its cross-examination of GSCO investigator Sparkman before the state calls the medical examiner and DNA expert. Wilkins told the judge they expected to rest their case by the middle of the day.

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BACKGROUND…

The body of Christina Parcel was discovered shortly after 11:00 a.m. EST on October 13, 2021 in the front living room of a suburban home owned by her sister. She was found, unresponsive, by her fiancée, Bradly Post. According to Post, he placed multiple calls to Parcell on the morning of her murder – calls which went unanswered. When he drove to the home to check on her, he found her savagely slain.

Greenville County sheriff Hobart Lewis confirmed Parcell had been “brutally stabbed multiple times” and “murdered in a very violent way.”

As we exclusively reported at the time, the killer sprinkled rose petals – or deadheaded roses – around Parcell’s body after dragging (and posing) her in the front living room of the 2,100-square foot home owned by her sister

“Rose petals were sprinkled around her body,” a source familiar with the killing told this news outlet. “She was dragged – there were drag marks. The scene was staged.”

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Officially, Parcell’s cause of death was recorded by the Greenville county coroner as a homicide due to “multiple sharp force injuries.”

How many such “sharp-force injuries” are we talking about? During an April 6, 2022 court hearing related to this case, Wilkins indicated Parcell had been “brutally stabbed to death in her neck and head area” – sustaining “approximately 31 different stab wounds by a sharp object.”

Hughes was arrested on November 3, 2021 by GCSO deputies and charged with Parcell’s murder. The arrest shocked the Upstate seeing as he had no known connection to Parcell at the time. Hughes has been held without bond at the Greenville County detention center since his arrest.

In September of 2023, Hughes and Mello were charged with first degree harassment and conspiracy for allegedly disseminating nude photos of Parcell to an undisclosed group of recipients. Those charges are pending.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Jenn Wood is FITSNews’ incomparable research director. She’s also the producer of the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts and leading expert on all things Murdaugh/ South Carolina justice. A former private investigator with a criminal justice degree, evildoers beware, Jenn Wood is far from your average journalist! A deep dive researcher with a passion for truth and a heart for victims, this mom of two is pretty much a superhero in FITSNews country. Did we mention she’s married to a rocket scientist? (Lucky guy!) Got a story idea or a tip for Jenn? Email her at jenn@fitsnews.com.

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